Where it starts
by Mizu1411
Summary: The winter war is over.Ichigo returns to soul society , after being ignored for 2 years, but is everything really peaceful?... Pairings: Ichiruki, hitsuhina . Rated T for safety
1. Chapter 1

Hello, this is my first fanfiction, please read it and tell me what you think about it.

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It had been 2 years since Aizen was killed, all traces of suspicious hollow activities had disappeared, everything gradually went back to normal. Kurosaki Ichigo was now in college, soul society had cut all ties with him, and left him alone.

Ichigo stepped into his house, and was greeted with his father's kick, he dodged it as always, and went up to his room. When soul society cut of all ties with him, they also took away his Shinigami representative badge, but he still had Kon . When he opened his door, to his horror and shock, Rukia was sitting on his bed waiting for him.

"R…Rukia, What are you doing here?" he stammered briefly, but he soon got to his senses

"Kurosaki Ichigo, Yamanato soutaicho has requested a meeting with you in soul society. We will leave now" Rukia replied coldly."

"You can't just appear and ask me to go to soul society! For heaven's sake, soul society cut all ties with me, you expect me to just walk back to them with opening arms!?"

"I am prepared to use force if necessary"

"What happened to you Rukia? You have become just like Byakuya, that cold unfeeling bastard, you are acting like a true Kuchiki."

Rukia tried to hide the fact that his words hurt her more than he realized. Nevertheless, she continued "Kurosaki Ichigo, I won't repeat again, follow me" while saying that, she opened the gate to soul society, and she stepped into it.

Without knowing why he listened to her, Ichigo stepped into the place he had tried to forget for the past 2 years. They headed straight for the first division, when they reached it, Rukia told him to wait outside, and she went in. Ichigo was having mixed feelings about this, he still had no idea why he had followed Rukia, but perhaps there was some part of him which had missed her absence.

A few moments later, Ichigo heard the strong voice of the soutaicho

"Enter Kurosaki Ichigo"

Ichigo walked in, and looked around to see the reactions of the other captains. Utitake and Unohana smiled at him nervously, while Byakuya looked like he did as usual. Hitsugaya had his usual glare on, while Kenpachi was yearning for another fight with Ichigo. Mayuri was staring at him creepily, and he shivered inwardly. Konamura had been killed during the winter war, while fighting Tousen. To Ichigo's surprise, Renji was there, wearing the white haori of the seventh division.

Apparently during his absence, soul society had finally gone around to replacing the captains. Hisagi Shuuhei was now the captain of the ninth division, but there still wasn't a captain of the third and fifth division.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, due to some unfortunate circumstances, we won't able to meet, but after a majority vote by our captains, we have decided to appoint you the captain of the third division."

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So, what do you think? should i continue this?


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, I am back again. Thank you **Trilobitemk7, Jiamwy, abilityPOINT,** **BoogiepopShippuden **for reviewing…insert smiley face of your choice. Thanks JM for helping me with this chapter, aka. almost dictating the entire story, except for the last paragraph..

Disclaimer(I realised i forgot to put this in the previous chapter): I can only own bleach in my dreams...no...scratch that, i will never own bleach.

Now on with the story…

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_"Kurosaki Ichigo, due to some unfortunate circumstances, we won't able to meet, but after a majority vote by our captains, we have decided to appoint you the captain of the third division."_

Ichigo got shocked.

"What do you mean? Are you serious? Why do you all suddenly want me to be captain?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo, soul society needs you now, as we need to have at least one captain to take over the two missing seats. We need to prevent this humiliation from getting worse, and you Kurosaki Ichigo is the most suitable candidate, and you were part of the arrancar war, and you were the one who killed Aizen. We will give you three days to think about it, dismissed."

The soutaicho swept out of the room, leaving Ichigo stunned.

Zaraki grinned with pleasure, and whispered menacingly into Ichigo's ear "You better accept this position, kid. I look forward to "working out" with you. Ichigo turned a strange shade of white, as he gave an awkward smile towards him **(A/N Characters may seem a little OOC .)**

Zaraki left and Renji walked past Ichigo, barely glancing at him. Slowly the captains started to disperse, leaving Ichigo, as he sighed and turned around, walking towards who-knows-where.

He saw Rukia approaching him. Rukia looked up towards Ichigo, for a moment, he thought he saw her face softened a little, but it immediately turned cold again. "Follow me Kurosaki Ichigo"

Ichigo sighed as he wondered why everyone was treating him this coldly. Even though he knew that soul society was not a happy-friendly-warm place, but it was just too weird. Rukia led Ichigo into his residence. She turned around, about to walk off, when Ichigo grabbed her hand, "wait."

Rukia, a little taken aback, turned around while avoiding his gaze. "What do you want…"she whispered.

Ichigo asked her "why are everyone treating me this way, especially you Rukia?"

Ichigo tried to look her in the eye. Rukia said "after you left…me and Renji have been…spying on you a little, we know you tried to forget about us…" Rukia couldn't bear it anymore, she turned around, looking at him was too much for her to bear.

"Rukia… the winter war was stretched too long, many lives were lost, for God's sake, I even killed Aizen...there was too much blood..."

Hearing Ichigo's harsh tone, Rukia was stunned. She had no idea how much the war had changed him. He was no longer the 15 year old punk, now, he was a mature 17 year old, who looked like he had seen much violence and sorrow. Violence and sorrow which no 15 year old should have seen.

sorry for cutting the chapter at a weird point...Please review xD


	3. Chapter 3

Hello! So sorry for not updating for so long. Thank you **BoogiepopShippuden**, **Cherryblossom snow**, **Clouds** and **Rocking catz lala xD** for reviewing, your reviews are really much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own Bleach!! In my dreams...That means, i DO NOT own it..Sobs in a corner

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_Hearing Ichigo's harsh tone, Rukia was stunned. She had no idea how much the war had changed him. He was no longer the 15 year old punk, now, he was a mature 17 year old, who looked like he had seen much violence and sorrow. Violence and sorrow which no 15 year old should have seen._

Rukia finally realized how much emotional damage Ichigo had suffered due to the war, she called out weakly " Ichigo I..am so sorry.."

But, It was too late, Ichigo had already stormed out of the room. Rukia sank to the floor, and she started to weep bitterly. She wept for all the moments she had spent with Ichigo, every single fight they had, all their petty arguments, and most of all, she wept for what she had made him into. Soul Society had no business forcing Ichigo to help them win the war which they had started.

After Ichigo had stormed out of the room, he spent the next 1 hour walking around Seireitei, trying to calm himself down. He had never had much chance to look around Soul Society, as the first time he had came, he was trying to rescue Rukia, and the subsequent times he had visited Soul Society, there were battles being fought everywhere against Aizen. At the thought of Rukia, he groaned.

He had been willing to forgive Rukia for ignoring him for the past 2 years, but he could not believe that instead of inviting him warmly into soul society, she had practically treated him like her worst enemy, he sighed once again.

He finally began to take notice of his surroundings, he had unwittingly walked into the eleventh division quarters. He gulped nervously, and was prepared to make a dash for it, when suddenly, he heard a very familiar voice calling his name. He turned around slowly, expecting Zaraki Kenpachi to be behind him and start demanding him to have a fight.

To his surprise, it was not Zaraki, but it was Tatsuki (1)

"T..Tatsuki, what are you doing here?" The moment he said that statement, he immediately began regretting it.

_-Flashback-_

"_Tatsuki!!" Ichigo shouted. He watched in horror while Nnoitra ran his sword through her torso. He ran forward trying to catch Tatsuki, but when he finally reached her, she was already dead. He was blind with fury, he immediately started attacking Nnoitra._**(A/N Sorry, I can't write fight scenes well, so to make the long story short, Ichigo defeated Nnoitra)(2)**

_Even after defeating Nnoitra, and destroying hundreds of hollows in the process, he still couldn't get rid of the empty feeling in his heart. Tatsuki was gone, and it was all his fault, he wasn't able to prevent Nnoitra from killing her. _

_-End Flashback-_

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**Author Note**

(1) I wanted some background on what happened to the other chracters during the war, such as Tatsuki, is that okay? Because I am not really sure..

(2) Erm, you may wonder how did Ichigo manage that, but he was really angry and sad, so his powers sort of increased.. His hollow also helped him

Nothing much happened here, but i am trying to improve Ichigo and Rukia's relationship, hopefully they will be together during the next chapter.. please review :D

**Anonymous Reviews Responses**

**Clouds- **Glad you liked it, here is your update, enjoy xD

**Rockin catx lala xD- **Sorry for the grammar mistakes, maybe you can point them out, so i can go and correct them? Glad you didn't find the ending weird. Here is your special mention :D


	4. Chapter 4

Hi, i am so sorry i didn't update for sooooo long. So sorry!!

Thank you **BoogiepopShippuden**,**sallyleen**, **Himiko Areess**, **Cherryblossom snow, abilityPOINT **for reviewing, your reviews made me soo happy

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"_T..Tatsuki, what are you doing here?" The moment he said that statement, he immediately began regretting it._

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Flashback (occurred directly after Ichigo set out to Hueco Mundo):

"_You make come out now" Urahara smirked_

_Mizurio, Keigo and Tatsuki sneaked out guiltily. "You noticed us?" Keigo asked curiously. "Of course, I purposely left the door open so you could sneak in, I knew you would come." Urahara replied. "W..Wh..Where is Inoue? I can normally sense her around, but about a few days ago, I couldn't feel anything, tell me what happened" Tatsuki asked shakily, she was extremely concerned about Inoue, she knew that Ichigo would know what had happened, however, he had just stepped into some god forsaken portal, she didn't know what to think._

_"Well..it's complicated.."_

_"I don't care how freaking complicated it is" "Just tell me!" Tatsuki yelled as she slammed her fist into the wall. "Whoa, cool down Tatsuki" Mizurio said, trying to comfort her. He didn't expect her right hand to clench around his neck, and her left arm was clenching into a fist, she was getting ready to slam her fist against his face._

_As she was going to do that, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder, "Okay I will explain what has happened" said Urahara in an unusually serious voice. He told them to follow him, and they went to a room where he poured each of them a cup of tea._

_"Before I start, are all of you seriously sure you want to know what is happening?"_

_"Damn it, just get on with it" Tatsuki shouted as she banged the table._

_Then, Urahara started explaining all about the existence of Shinigami/hollows and the situation that was currently happening. While he was explaining, no one noticed a black cat walking in, and settling itself on Urahara's lap._

_After he had finished explaining, Keigo and Mizurio had flabbergasted expressions on their faces, while Tatsuki was holding her head in her hands, Ichigo had done so much and he was currently on his way to Hueco Mundo, and she repaid him by punching him._

_"Stupid Ichigo" she cursed in her head, he didn't have to feel guilty, it wasn't his fault that some psychotic Shinigami had kidnapped Inoue._

_Suddenly, she looked up with a determined expression on her face. She started carefully" You said that only humans with reiatsu are able to see Shinigami, and since we just saw Ichigo in his Shinigami form, that means we must have some reiatsu right? And since Inoue and Chado were able to gain some kind of power, that means we should be able to right?"_

_"Well, yes…"said Urahara in an amused voice, "What do you want to do?"_

_" I want you to teach me how to fight"_

_-End flashback-_

Sorry, another short chapter on only a flashback, no ichiruki action, hopefully there will be some the next chapter, and thanks dear Claud for forcing me to think of something to write, luckily she did, or the story wont be updated today. My grammar today is horrible, so sorry for the weird phrasing..

Thanks for reading, hope you can take the time to review :D


	5. Chapter 5

Hi! Sorry for not updating for so long, but the horrible exams were upon me... Thank you DtecnoKira, Star-Linger, Cherryblossom snow, x pink cloud x, and himiko areess, for reviewing, thankyou so much!! :D

(Presents all of you a cookie)

"T..Tatsuki, what are you doing here?" The moment he said that statement, he immediately began regretting it.

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Tatsuki smirked and said, "Ichigo, did you really think you would be the only one to go on to soul society?"

Ichigo replied "No, obviously not, but I thought…you would be in Rukongai"

"My spirit pressure is high enough, high enough to be able to fight alongside you in the winter war, or did you forget about _her_? Also, I don't think I am suited to the peaceful lifestyle"

"Of course not" he abruptly paled at the mention of _her_. _She _was terrifying, something Tatsuki had to work for days trying to control, absolutely vicious towards anyone she judged incompetent and worthless. Ichigo never got the full story on how she came about, but he had a sneaking feeling that it had something to do with him. Some people could say what she had done was akin to making a deal with the devil.

"So, did you even get my invitation on my wedding to Renji? Its taking place next week you know."

Ichigo did not expect his childhood, tom-boyish friend, one that he knew and cared for so much, to ever get married. He knew that her relationship with Renji had started during the war, they had comforted each other, and found solace in each other when their friends were gravely injured and almost on the brink of death. Ururu, who Tatsuki had became close to due to some reason which Ichigo did not know, was caught off guard by Halibel, and was promptly killed in cold blood. Tatsuki became inconsolable, she was even suicidal for a point of time. Though, she didn't literally try and take a Zanpaktou and ram it into her body, she threw herself into the battle recklessly, with no care about her life. It was only Renji who had managed to convince her that she had a reason to live for, and the chance to see Inoue.

"Not yet, I suppose its still in the mail box, or whatever soul society had for carrying invitations. So what seat are you?"

"Third seat. Ikkaku is Renji's fukotaicho. There was some fuss as Yamanato wanted Ikkaku to become a captain instead of Shuuhei, but Ikkaku protested so much that he finally allowed him to be promoted into a fukotaicho instead"

"I suppose he is pretty smug to be able to get his way."

"Hmm…yes…" Tatsuki hesitated and said "Things are rather complicated now Ichigo. Yamanato still has not forgiven the vizards, even though they fought with soul society. He tolerates them but he would not allow them to step into soul society, even when Shunsui and Utitake tried to persuade him. I don't think he would take to the idea that you are a vizard"

Yes, even during the war, Yamanato did not realize that Ichigo was a vizard. Perhaps it was due to the fact that majority of the captains were helping him to conceal it. Shunsui, Utitake and Unohana were naturally sympathetic, Kenpachi didn't give a damn except that Ichigo must continue to fight with him. Hitsugaya and Soifon were harder to convince, however Hitsugaya soon became used to it after he saw that Ichigo had full control over his hollow. Soifon was convinced by Yoruichi, who Soifon had an immense respect for, almost bordering on obsession. Mayuri was not told, as everyone felt he could not be trusted. He was more likely to report him to Yamanato to try and get into his good graces than to help Ichigo.

"I guess I shall continue to hide it from Yamanato then…"

At this moment, Ichigo felt a bone-shattering hug from behind him. "Ichigooo" Matsumoto Rangiku squealed.

"Taicho told me you were back, how have you been?" She asked happily. Without waiting for an answer, she proceeded to inform him about all the latest gossip.

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Ended the story at an abrubt way again. This chapter has not even be read over thoroughly by me, so, sorry for the grammar and spelling mistakes. Thanks for reading, please review


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